Jewelry Auctions

30-carat yellow diamond sells for $500K

Lacking a grading report, the only details known about this 30-carat stone that sold at Ritchie’s for $500,000 on Sunday is that it is a natural color diamond and that it is yellow.

Toronto--A 30-carat yellow diamond expected to garner up to $2 million sold for only $500,000 at a Canadian auction house on Sunday, possibly due to the fact that it lacked a grading report.

“It’s an uncertified stone, it was never sent to the GIA, and only a diamond dealer would be able to evaluate it. That kind of takes the public out of the bidding,” said Kashif Khan, managing director at Ritchie’s, the Toronto-based auction house where the diamond was sold.

Khan said while most colored diamonds are certified by either the Gemological Institute of America or American Gemological Laboratories, the 30-carat yellow stone came from an old collection and had no paperwork to go along with it so the valuation was based on “what your eyes see.”

“The seller had it for many years and they were confident in what it was and what they paid for it,” he said. “(Ritchie’s) isn’t a retailer, so we don’t get lots retail-ready, we sell them as is. So the way it comes is the way it goes, and it’s up to the buyers and their confidence in the diamond.”

Colored diamonds half the size of the 30-carat yellow have fetched impressive prices at auction this year, including “The Winston Blue,” a 13.22-carat fancy vivid blue diamond that sold for $23.8 million at Christie’s in May.

An oval-cut, VVS1 5.05-carat fancy vivid pink diamond sold for $9.6 million also at Christie’s earlier this month, and a 100.09-carat fancy vivid yellow diamond garnered $16.3 million at Sotheby’s in May.